


Left Behind

by NightsMistress



Category: Harrison Squared - Daryl Gregory
Genre: Post-Book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 13:24:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5498639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightsMistress/pseuds/NightsMistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone had to keep Harrison from killing himself over his obsession, someone responsible and sensible, who could reason with a stubborn sixteen year old who had no concept of self-preservation. </p><p>Unfortunately, all Harrison had was her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [drayton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/drayton/gifts).



> My thanks to Morbane for the beta.

_Ms Harrison? It’s about your nephew, Harrison._

Selena had never intended to be a parent. Parenting meant the assumption of responsibilities and acceptance of messy accidents, and Selena was willing to accept responsibility for neither of these. Children were, in Selena’s deliberately limited experience, grubby and sticky, and didn’t become interesting until they were adults if then. Most adults weren’t interesting either, in Selena’s experience, but those she could leave when she grew bored with them. She could leave whole _cities_ when they became boring to her. New York had become boring to her! How had it come to this, being tied down to a tiny seaside town in Massachusetts?

Harry would have loved being here. Had, she understood, before he drowned. She could believe it; the town was full of stultifyingly dull things that Harry would have loved to see. He would have gone on and on and _on_ about the traditions of small, isolated towns, especially ones that were so determined to remain in the past that they didn’t even have _cable_. Selena however, was a woman of the modern world. She needed basic amenities. Cable. Cell coverage. A dating scene that existed. A bottle shop with a decent selection. There was nothing to do in Dunnsmouth if you were an enterprising woman of the world. She had no idea how Harrison managed to find so much trouble for himself, when she couldn’t even find a place that had a good merlot, and she had tried. God as her witness, she had tried.

Maybe she should cut down on the drinking though, now that she was the _de facto_ parent of a sixteen year old. One with Harry’s blue eyes, the set of Rosa’s mouth, and an obsessive nature from them both.

Selena snorted at that thought. “Fat chance, kiddo,” she said aloud. Her voice sounded loud and raucous in the hum of the hospital room, cutting through the soft regular beep of the monitors for blood pressure and other things. Harrison breathed quietly, and didn’t stir. He hadn’t stirred since he’d collapsed like a unstrung puppet in the emergency examination room. Asleep, he lost the tense line of his jaw and the dark scowl that he’d had since she arrived, as if the anger he always had inside him was cored out and leaving him slack and hollow. Hypothermia, the doctor had told her. Exhaustion. He’ll be right as rain after an overnight stay.

Harrison thought _he_ was exhausted, he should try having to worry about his safety. What would Rosa do if she woke up to find her son dead? Or worse?

How were you meant to be a good role model for a traumatised sixteen year old, anyway? Selena had lived her entire life _avoiding_ being a good role model. Responsibility was a mantle that sat uncomfortably on her shoulders, like a poorly tailored suit jacket, and was one that she wanted off as quickly as possible. She made a fantastic aunt, able to mix cocktails and dirty quips without batting an eye. She would make a terrible parent.

She hadn’t been able to stop Harrison strangling his school’s vice principal, and she hadn’t liked the man either. What was she meant to do at parent-teacher interviews? Surely they wouldn’t expect her to be _interested_ in their curriculum.

Rosa had better wake up soon, she thought, shifting in the uncomfortable plastic hospital chair by Harrison’s bedside. She wasn’t to be held accountable if Harrison grew up into a delinquent or, worse, a chartered accountant.

Assuming he managed to live to be an adult. Why did he go into the water? 

She took a shaky breath and checked her eyeliner with her compact. It had been advertised as being waterproof, and she was pleased to see that it’s winged lines remained perfect and unsmudged by tears. Truth in advertising. She’d have to remember to buy it again when she found a real mall. Uxton had the advantage of not being Dunnsmouth, but she couldn’t see a Sephora opening there any time soon. She couldn’t even buy from their online store unless she arranged for them to go to Uxton first. It was _completely_ unacceptable.

In the meantime, she needed a plan. Obviously, she would have to get cable sorted out. Maybe if they had cable, Harrison would stay inside. That’s what teenaged boys did, wasn’t it? Watched cable and played video games?

“I probably should ground you,” she said aloud to Harrison. “Though that would be boring for us both, as I’d have to watch you to make sure you didn’t sneak off. No chance you could promise not to go swimming until you get your leg?”

Harrison said nothing on account of still being unconscious.

In a way, that was an answer in itself.

At least now Selena didn’t have to worry about his disappearing. Asleep he wasn’t able to do much of anything. When he awoke … that would be a different story. He was fifteen miles from the sea and missing his prosthetic leg, but Selena didn’t think that would be enough to keep him away from developing a new obsession: finding out who had kidnapped his mother. Surely he wouldn’t be able to get into too much trouble right now? How far could he go with one leg, and a saline IV hanging from his arm?

Ahab, she had called him, and Harrison had sighted his whale. Like his father and mother before him. She hadn’t known about Harry’s obsession with Dunnsmouth until after he disappeared. Rosa had hidden hers in graduate school and cryptozoology, and it was only when she found out just _where_ Rosa and Harrison had gone that Selena realised: instead of giving it up, Rosa had just hidden her obsession out of sight. With that kind of legacy, it was just a matter of time before Harrison went into the waters of Dunnsmouth and never came out. He’d already been pulled out of the ocean three times.

Selena had never wanted to be a parent. She hadn’t wanted to wake up, heart in her throat, to find out that her nephew had almost drowned, her sister-in-law was in a coma, and that they’d appreciate it if she could come into the hospital. When she had gotten the call, Selena had thought about bundling Harrison into the car and bolting to literally anywhere. Maybe Oregon. Dad may be pushing ninety, but he had looked after Harrison in the past. Surely if he saw him, he’d remember who his grandson was. He tended to remember who Selena was most of the time. When his nurse reminded him, that was. And sure, Rosa and Harrison Senior had had that spectacular argument three years ago, but that was in the past! These things paled in comparison to getting away from Dunnsmouth.

But she knew that she’d never keep Harrison away. Even if she dragged him to Oregon, he was old enough and resourceful enough to find his way back. This was where his mother had gone missing ... and had only partly returned. There was no way he’d leave that crime unsolved. Someone had to keep him from killing himself over it, someone responsible and sensible, who could reason with a stubborn sixteen year old who had no concept of self-preservation.

Unfortunately, all Harrison had was her. It didn't bode well.


End file.
